Real Quality Comics #1, first draft.

Just finished the first draft of "Real Quality Comics #1" which you can download from that link there [Link removed -- new draft available in this entry].

There's a lot in this that needs some work, and some tweaking, and if anyone wants to download the script and give it a read, I'll be more than happy to hear whatever you have to say about it. I will be doing at least one more draft on this, so you have plenty of time to get back to me, if you're so inclined. I appreciate and hope for feedback, either in the comment of this post, Facebook, or my e-mail at mojo.wire.productions@gmail.com.

That said, I also consider this very much a warts and all sort of project. Speed was really important here -- I was curious what I could produce in a relatively short amount of time, about what I'd have if I was writing a monthly comic book [I'd actually have at least another week, but since I finished early, I figure I can move on, and touch up as I feel the need]. There were also a lot of things I was doing that I would normally go back and change -- the internal narrative and the "telling over showing" would normally be something I'd try to work out in the next couple of drafts. I'm pretty sure that's not going to change this time, for the sake of both tone, and me just trying to see if something less rigid and more casual can work in this medium. However, if you read it and hate it, tell me. Just because I'm not changing it doesn't mean I don't want to know if it works or not.

Also want to stress that this is a starting point. An introduction to this town, these characters, and you're not supposed to have all the information yet. If there's something you want to assume, I say go crazy, assume what you want from what you have. I liked picking up in the middle of all this, and will probably be trying to implement some of things I'm doing here in some other comics I'm planning on writing later on.

I'm also curious how all the references and such came off. I have tried to take pretty active steps to remove the Clerk-esque "Which did you like better, Return of the Jedi or the Empire Strike Back?" type conversations, not because I don't love them [I do - "Familiar" actually has a conversation about Sam Waterston that's not going anywhere], just because I always worry about relying too heavily on them. Here? I threw that right out the window, which means a lot of pop culture stuff in this [a lot that I just really like], that right now I just sort of want to sit on and see how I like it after I have some distance. Blame "Spaced."

Finally, yes, this is my first step towards those romance comics I was talking about earlier. I hope that doesn't seem depressing after reading the script. Work in progress, remember.

I also don't want to make it sound like I expect people to download this and read it. I realize it's in sort of a strange format that most people aren't comfortable with, and I'm used to working on comics mostly on my own. But it's here [as always], if anyone is curious or interested, or, if a illustrator comes along, and wants to give it a read, and maybe collaborate on a comic in the future.

I'll probably do another post later in the week, either with the updated copy, or perhaps more of me rambling about why I made some of the decisions I did. I just finished, so I've got some mixed feelings on project, and I'm not even sure what #2 is going to be yet. It might involve these characters, or I might just write something entirely different that just makes use of some of the things I do here. I guess the rad thing is that the generic "Real Quality" title will let me do whatever I want, all under the same banner.

I guess it looks like I'm looking at this as a sort of an experiment. Which wouldn't entirely be wrong. But I would also actually like to get started working on another book, if only because I enjoy it so much.

This particular story also doesn't have a title. Which... well, I'm up for suggestions. I'll be thinking about it. For now I'm just kind of pleased I made my self-imposed deadline, and am open-minded to how I'm going to proceed.

More later.